Just when debates are raging in Kerala over the practicality of the total liquor ban announced by the Congress-led UDF Government, the tourism industry has expressed serious concerns about the impact of non-availability of liquor on the sector even as the process for closing down all the bars in the State, except those in five-star hotels, started on Thursday.
Congress’s Tourism Minister AP Anil Kumar, who had earlier defended the new liquor policy by saying that tourists were coming to Kerala not to get boozed, changed his stand on Thursday with the statement that there were concerns in tourism industry that the business might plummet in the absence of liquor availability and that ways should be sought to solve this problem.
Tour and travel companies in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram said that tour operators in several European countries had informed them of their unwillingness to send travelers to Kerala if hard liquor, beer and wine were not available. They said the worldwide media attention that liquor ban had got had complicated the situation.
“Three agencies in Europe have informed us that the travelers who had booked with them to travel to Kerala are not willing to undertake the trip in the new circumstance. For many Europeans, Kerala is a tropical heaven. They come here mostly to relax and liquor is just one factor in their scheme. We are probably in for a crisis,” said a travel agent in Kochi.
He rejected the Government’s argument that liquor would be available at five-star hotels if foreigners wanted it. “Not even 20 per cent of the European tourists coming here stay at the 20 five-star hotels. Our mainstay is not the affluent travelers but the normal people. So it is going to be a big problem,” he added.
As per the new liquor policy of the Congress-led Government, only five-star hotels will have bars, 418 bars which have already been closed will not be reopened, 312 functioning bars will be closed by September 12 and ten per cent of the retail liquor outlets will be closed each year leading to total liquor ban in ten years.
According to a leading travel agent in Thiruvananthapuram, a minimum of 30 tour operators in Europe have sent e-mails to their associates in Kerala informing them of their inability to send travelers if liquor is not available as per requirement. “They are saying that the travelers are opting to go to Thailand, Sri lanka, etc in this situation,” he said.
According to the Kerala Tourism Department, the State’s revenue from the sector in 2013 was about `23,000 crore. The industry was expecting a huge increase in this revenue in the 2014-15 season but officials now say that the expectations may prove wrong due to the liquor ban. “It is true that they are not coming to booze up but booze is a vital factor,” said an official.
The official also said that many foreign tourists would be happy with wine and beer but “we don’t have many wine-and-beer parlours at the crucial destinations”. Though the Government has not yet taken a decision on what to do with the 121 beer-and-wine parlours in the State, it would be difficult for it to allow the opening of new parlours in the prevailing circumstances.
Tourism Minister Anil Kumar admitted his apprehension that the liquor ban could seriously affect the tourism industry. There were tourists for whom liquor was part of their lives and their requirements should be taken into consideration, he said. “liquor consumption is indeed a social problem but the tourism industry’s concerns should not be overlooked,” he added.
At the same time, the Excise Department on Thursday morning started the process of serving notices for closure on the 710 bars in the State as per the decision taken by the Cabinet the other day, close on the heels of the new liquor policy becoming a law with changes being made to the Excise rules. The bars were being asked to close down within two weeks of receiving the notice.